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The week dawns with all eyes focused on Robert Mueller’s investigation. After CNN reported on Friday that the first charges in the investigation had been filed, with any charged expected to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, speculation ran rampant and President Trump responded with outrage.
“The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s…are now fighting back like never before. There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!” the president said in a series of tweets on Sunday morning.
RELATED: Politico embarrasses WSJ
No one, save those in Mueller’s camp, knows how the indictments will unfold, but opinion writers at two Rupert Murdoch-owned papers aren’t interested in waiting around to find out. Last week, The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board, citing reporting that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC had funded opposition research the produced the infamous “dossier,” argued that Mueller “could best serve the country by resigning to prevent further political turmoil over that conflict of interest.”
That suggestion was echoed by New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin, who added the recently revived controversy over a 2010 deal that gave a Russian company control of more than 20 percent of the US’s uranium-production capacity to a list of reasons why Mueller must resign. On Sunday, the Journal doubled-down with an opinion piece by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey offering the simple solution that Trump “end this madness by immediately issuing a blanket presidential pardon” to basically anyone involved in any sort of dealing with Russians since the turn of the century, and “to anyone for any offense that has been investigated by Mr. Mueller’s office.”
All caveats about the divide between opinion and hard news aside, it has to be frustrating for reporters at the Journal, who continue to do real reporting on the issue to see their colleagues on the editorial board muddying the waters just days ahead of expected indictments. For those confused by the noise surrounding Clinton’s involvement in the dossier’s origins and the flimsy story about a seven-year-old uranium deal, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler has a guide to the latest allegations.
ICYMI: CNN airs problematic gun photo
If allowed to continue, the Mueller investigation will likely stretch on for months, and those hoping for a smoking gun at its conclusion may well be disappointed. But calling for the special counsel’s firing on the eve of an indictment being issued doesn’t help a newspaper that has already faced criticism for being too soft in its coverage of an embattled president.
Below, more Mueller, Trump, Russia, and a complex story with no end in sight.
- Republicans on Mueller’s side: On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Trey Gowdy said, “I would encourage my Republican friends, give the guy a chance to do his job.”
- Bubbles, explored: USA Today’s William Cummings looks at how different partisan media spheres have covered the past week’s news.
- Muddying the waters: The New York Times’s Julie Hirschfeld Davis reports on how Trump is trying to shift the focus ahead of expected indictments.
- Reaction to the Journal’s editorial: Mediaite gathered some of the outraged responses on social media to the WSJ editorial calling for Mueller’s resignation.
Other notable stories
- Vanity Fair’s Joe Pompeo has a deep dive into the expected AT&T-Time Warner merger and what it means for CNN President Jeff Zucker’s future.
- More fallout from Weinstein: BuzzFeed reports actor Anthony Rapp accused Kevin Spacey of of making sexual advances toward him when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 26. Spacey responded by saying that he didn’t remember the incident, but apologized for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
- The New York Times’s Sydney Ember reports that New Republic President and Publisher Hamilton Fish will be taking a leave of absence as complaints about his behavior by women are investigated.
- Correction from last Friday’s newsletter: I credited CNN’s Dylan Byers with breaking the story of allegations against Mark Halperin. It was, of course, his colleague Oliver Darcy’s scoop. My apologies to Oliver.
- Correction from last Friday’s newsletter: I credited CNN’s Dylan Byers with breaking the story of allegations against Mark Halperin. It was, of course, his colleague Oliver Darcy’s scoop. My apologies to Oliver.
- New York’s Rebecca Traister looks at the big picture in all of these accusations, writing: “We see that the men who have had the power to abuse women’s bodies and psyches throughout their careers are in many cases also the ones in charge of our political and cultural stories.”
- Margaret Sullivan argues that, in order to achieve real change in the industry, “Media companies have to address the deep-seated gender inequality that’s at the root of this mess.”
- For CJR, Pete Croatto writes about freelance journalists’ biggest complaint: editor silence.
- Must-read: Politico’s Tim Alberta spent 18 hours with former House speaker John Boehner for a profile that’s full of too many delightful moments to choose just one to highlight.
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